The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MORNING BUSINESS” mentioning Chuck Grassley was published in the Senate section on page S6262 on Aug. 10.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MORNING BUSINESS
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BUDGET RECONCILIATION
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, yesterday, the Democrats unveiled their reckless tax and spend budget plan.
With our country experiencing the highest inflation it has seen in decades and our national debt approaching an alltime high, common sense would dictate that we ought to use the budget process to get our fiscal house in order.
Instead, my Democrat colleagues are intent on using the budget to embark on a liberal wish list spending spree.
My Democrat colleagues' budget calls for over $4 trillion in new spending over the next decade and annual deficits would average $1.6 trillion over that period. As a result, the national debt would reach 119 percent of our economy, shattering the World War II record of 106 percent.
Much of this new spending, ballooning the debt and deficits, is the product of a single bill Democrats hope to pass before the end of the year under the guise of so-called ``human infrastructure.''
Infrastructure is popular and needed. It helps keep our economy competitive over the long run. That is why Democrat leaders initially wanted their multitrillion dollar wish list to ride along on an infrastructure package. That plan fell apart when a bipartisan group was able to agree on a separate bill with just real infrastructure.
This new spending spree, far from being an infrastructure bill like the bipartisan bill, has nothing to do with building roads or bridges. Instead, it would create massive new entitlements and impose massive new tax increases.
This mishmash of massive new spending and job-killing tax hikes would act as a double whammy on middle-income Americans, small business owners, and farmers.
Trillions of dollars in new spending is likely to set inflation ablaze. Inflation is a stealth tax that steals the value of the dollars Americans already earned. Hard-working Americans are already paying the price of excessive spending in the form of inflation with prices rising throughout the economy.
As a result, while wages increased at a pace of 3.6 percent last month, Americans found themselves struggling to keep their heads above water with prices soaring 5.4 percent.
Now, Democrats want to add tax hikes on top of this, which will slow economic growth, reduce business investment, and result in lower wages and fewer jobs over the long-run.
What is more, the tax hikes that are being discussed take direct aim at family run business and farms.
This includes raising their income taxes, their capital gains taxes, and imposing a confiscatory new death tax when operations are passed to the next generation.
Higher taxes, excessive spending, and escalating debt are not a prescription for prosperity. They are instead are a recipe for fiscal disaster.
I urge my Democrat colleagues to tap the brakes before it is too late.
Please think about the future and abandon your reckless tax and spend agenda.
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